The Long Draw – 18″ x 60″
Now We Are Six
When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five,
I was just alive.
But now I am Six,
I’m as clever as clever,
So I think I’ll be six now for ever and ever.
Now We Are Sixty…
When I take stock
of all the steps
along the road
the people and places
the lessons and loves
the pleasures
and the pains
wanderlusts
and home comings all
what seems to
have most defined my life
the whisper of a wake
in this world that has
so far
been me
it is the things
my hands have made.
I am leaving spoons
and chairs
drawings
and paintings
sweaters
and shawls
journals
and quilts
garden beds
and compost piles
scattered along the road
like breadcrumbs
not to find my way home
but to say
I was here.
There is something in spinning called the long draw.
It can be defined as a technique, but spinners will
understand it better as a Zen-like goal that embodies
both skill and soul.
You aim to pull the carded wool as far as your arms
will stretch, while maintaining a steady rhythm to the
wheel, and a gently tapering thinness to the yarn.
It requires practice, and patience, and when achieved
one is truly balanced with the universe and beyond.
My hands know that place well…
and always get there long before my heart does.